Drawing on the findings of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) - its anti-prescriptivist and non-judgmental approach, as well as its foregrounding of the social function of translated texts in a given target culture - Rosa notes a factor that has been ignored in canon-creation: that Portuguese readers invest more in the purchase of translated books - e.g. the bestseller, Harry Potter - than in original Portuguese literature. Based on a complex sociological research methodology, the author suggests that most readers in non-English speaking countries develop their literary competence mainly through the reading of works in translation. It is a competence that, transferred, assists in their appreciation of canonised literary works in the mother tongue/ Portuguese. She queries the way in which translated literature in any (in her case, the Portuguese) literary system is simply taken for granted. Rather, she shows that translated works exert a powerful, albeit ‘invisible’ influence on literary canon formation.